Antony said he wanted to make 'history' with Manchester United after he became Erik ten Hag's fifth signing of the summer.
United paid Ajax €95m up front, with €5m due in add-ons, for the winger, making him the club's second-most expensive signing and that fee was agreed upon despite key figures at Old Trafford being reluctant to meet the Dutch side's valuation.
Two embarrassing defeats against Brighton and Brentford at the start of the season encouraged United to bid for the player again, although it shouldn't have taken those results for that level of investment to be made available to Ten Hag.
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After the worst campaign at the club for decades, the first-team squad desperately needed an overhaul and new faces in the summer window and it's little wonder that Ten Hag was so keen to add to his attacking options, with the benefit of hindsight.
Ten Hag had Antony, Cristiano Ronaldo, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga as his attacking options following the transfer window but he's currently contending with the loss of Ronaldo and the absence of Sancho.
Ronaldo left the club by mutual consent after his explosive interview with Piers Morgan and there is still no return date for Sancho, who is working to 'get back to his highest level' after training with coaches in the Netherlands last month.
That means Ten Hag has Antony, Martial, Rashford and Elanga remaining from his options in August, while he'll also be thankful for the timely emergence of Alejandro Garnacho, who couldn't have broken into the first-team at a better time.
Martial is injury prone, albeit effective when he plays, and Elanga has not scored in 10 months, which means the burden of scoring goals has largely fallen to Rashford, who has rediscovered his confidence and looks back to his very best, fortunately.
Rashford has nine goals this term and his wonderful strike against Burnley in the League Cup on Tuesday showed he's returned to club duty in a rich vein of form following the World Cup in Qatar, where he managed to score three goals for England.
The 25-year-old is delivering under Ten Hag, but the Dutchman needs his other attacking options to step up and perform consistently, especially now Ronaldo has left the club and while Sancho continues to be unavailable with no return date.
Martial needs to stay fit and Antony needs to sustain his glimmers of promise throughout a full 90 minutes. Rashford is carrying the burden of scoring goals on his own and it's time for his attacking colleagues to record better numbers in the final third.
The €95m transfer fee, which equates to £84m, that was invested in Antony means he should be delivering this season and the Brazilian does not have the luxury of having time to settle in, as Ten Hag's attacking options are scarce.
In defence of Antony, he's scored three goals in six appearances in the Premier League, but his all-round performances are yet to be excellent and sustained, crucially, which is his next challenge now the halfway point of the season has passed.
Antony was substituted onto the pitch for Garnacho in the 59th minute against Burnley and his half-hour display was far from convincing on his return, as he misplaced an easy pass for Bruno Fernandes and received a yellow card.
The Brazilian has shown enough glimmers of talent during his first few months in Manchester to give supporters hope that he will succeed, but he needs to start impacting games in their entirety, not just in moments, as he's been doing.
If he doesn't, he'll make the wrong kind of 'history' at Old Trafford. There have been too many multi-million signings that have fallen by the wayside at the club and the transfer fee that Antony commanded certainly increases the pressure and expectation.
That pressure might not be felt by Antony, who is exuberant on the pitch, having already pioneered the 'Anturny', but he'll know the second half of the season is huge for him, as he'll be aware he needs to vindicate the faith that Ten Hag has shown.
Antony said he wanted to 'achieve great things' when he signed and this season is as good a time as ever for that.
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